The Government Delegation and the City of Ceuta held an urgent coordination meeting on 27 July after more than 1,000 migrants—many of them unaccompanied minors—entered the Spanish enclave in the past week by sea and overland. The Centro de Estancia Temporal de Inmigrantes (CETI) is operating at 200 % of capacity and the child-protection system is “on the brink of collapse,” officials said. Authorities have requested immediate reinforcement from Spain’s Interior Ministry, including extra Guardia Civil units and charter buses to transfer asylum-seekers to mainland reception centres. The sudden spike follows a Supreme Court ruling earlier this month that bars ‘hot returns’ of swimmers intercepted in Spanish waters, compelling local police to register all arrivals formally. For global-mobility teams, the pressure on Ceuta’s infrastructure could delay NIE issuance, residence formalities and ferry crossings to Algeciras. Travel planners should expect tighter ID checks at the Tarajal crossing with Morocco and possible same-day suspension of pedestrian lanes if crowding worsens. Commercial drivers report queues of up to three hours as cargo lanes are re-purposed for humanitarian logistics. Local authorities are converting exhibition halls into temporary dormitories, but industry bodies warn that hotel occupancy has reached 95 %, straining accommodation for business travellers linked to the trans-shipment and digital-services sectors. Spain’s Secretary of State for Migration is drafting an emergency order that would let companies re-locate foreign employees from Ceuta to mainland offices without restarting residence-permit clocks—a move welcomed by the Ceuta Business Association.
Source: RTV Ceuta
